Fantasy Island

Big Media is hailing yesterday’s plane landing in the Hudson and River and subsequent rescue of passengers as a Miracle. Nonsense. It was no miracle. It was experience that saved the day.

Terrified plane passengers probably prayed and hoped to survive. Terrified plane passengers doubtlessly wanted a change from their present circumstances. But what saved the terrified plane passengers, what those terrified plane passengers needed was an experienced hand at the wheel.

* * *

DrudgeReport headlined Miracle on the Hudson, the New York Timesblared For Terrified Survivors, a Miracle.

To its credit the New York Times also wrote a story headlined U.S. Airways Crew is credited for Nimble Reaction.

Airplane pilots are not really paid for the daily work, the daily grind. Airline pilots are paid for those five seconds of decision made in an emergency. After vigorous training, vetting, and testing, a pilot is licensed. But to earn the wings it takes experience.

Minutes after departing La Guardia Airport, what the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 faced Thursday afternoon, at 3,200 feet over the central Bronx, was a really quick decision. [snip]

What is that small airport, one pilot asked a controller.

Teterboro, in New Jersey, the controller replied, and instructed the pilot to fly south along the Hudson River, then swing back to the north to land there.

Instead, the pilot told the controller that they would ditch the plane in the river. They then cleared the George Washington Bridge by about 900 feet, according to controllers, and at a point near the end of West 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan, the plane slid into the river’s smooth, gray waters. [snip]

But from early indications, it appears the pilot handled the emergency river landing with aplomb and avoided major injuries, evacuating the plane, an Airbus A320, calmly in the middle of the river, passengers and officials said.

Airliners are not meant to glide, although occasionally they have to. The pilot of this one, Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III, is certified as a glider pilot, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.

Captain Sullenberger, known as Sully, flew the F-4 for the United States Air Force for seven years in the 1970s after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy. He joined USAir, as it was called at the time, in 1980 and became a “check airman,” training and evaluating new pilots or those changing to new aircraft or moving up to captain. He also was an accident investigator for the union, the Air Line Pilots Association.

Anyone can rent a pilot’s uniform, wear the cap, learn the lingo, walk gauntily and with a swagger, imitate an actual pilot and fool Big Media that they are a pilot. But when the engines don’t work the rented pilot suit does not land the plane in safety, does not save the lives of the passenters.

A former fighter pilot was hailed as the Hero of the Hudson Thursday night after he landed a stricken US Airways jet in the river – and made sure everybody got out alive.

Pilot Chesley Sullenberger was still drying off when Mayor Bloomberg sang his praises.

“He did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river” and evacuating the passengers, Bloomberg said of the veteran pilot who lives near San Francisco.

With water seeping into the plane – and all his 150 passengers and four other crew members safe – Sullenberger walked up and down the center aisle twice to make sure nobody was left before he, too, fled the jet, the mayor said.

“He was the last one off the plane,” Bloomberg said.

Gov. Paterson also praised the ferry boat operators and rescue workers who rushed over as the plane bobbed in the 40-degree water and plucked the frigid, frightened passengers off the wings.

“We’ve had a miracle on the Hudson,” Paterson said.

It was not a “miracle” Governor Paterson – it was experience. Remember that when you choose a U.S. Senator from New York next week. An inexperienced candidate can get you politically killed.

[A side note for Governor Paterson: “Here’s a warning from a Democratic consultant, anonymous for obvious reasons, when asked about the Kennedy prospect: “If Paterson chooses her he has a problem. He’d be dissing the whole Congressional delegation. As for her being a friend of Obama, well, in politics friends are people you can say ‘No’ to the easiest. Also, it looks like another elitist play. She’s never carried anything, let alone a state ticket. Can the governor really risk naming a novice?”]

The Daily News also reported that the falling plane evoked horrible memories of the 9/11 attacks. “I saw a plane flying really, really low and I just thought, ‘Not again,’ ” one visibly upset witness said.

The Daily News then reported on an irony: Many of the passengers were Bank of America bankers heading home.

Those Bank of America bankers now know in a real life way the value of experience. With Bank of America in more trouble than ever, requesting and getting even more taxpayer dollars, the need for an experienced hand becomes ever clearer.

Bank of America and the American economy need an experienced hand at the wheel. Tax-dodger Geithner, Larry Summers, the entire economic team – they are beside the point. Experienced leadership is what is needed at the very topmost. History teaches that the fish always stinks from the head downwards. The American economic fish has a severe case of B.O.

Next week we will begin to dissect the B.O. economy plans. We will look to history to teach us. Right now, we don’t see much to applaud. We see a lot of pretense of knowing what to do, but little, zero actually, experience. The fish always stinks from the head.

Recent American history has been greatly influenced by bogus pilots, lightly trained terrorists, pretending to be pilots in order to crash planes into the heart of American economic power.

Yesterday’s plane landing in the Hudson River appeared to many, just as in September 11, 2001 to be that “a movie was being shot“. But it was not a movie, it was not a “Reality TV” show. It was real life. And in real life, as opposed to fantasies, experience matters.

On Wednesday, January 14, Ricardo Montalban died. Montalban was well known for a television series called Fantasy Island.

In Fantasy IslandMontalbanwould preside over cautionary tales of those who wished to have their most desired fantasies fulfilled. What Hopium addicts who want to live in a fantasy world forget is that Fantasy Island was a cautionary tale.

Americans are in a metaphorical plane with an actor as a pilot headed towards Fantasy Island. We fear the landing won’t be as miraculous as the Hudson River landing.

95 thoughts on “Fantasy Island”

Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.”

I’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t — this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power.

Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. It’s not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation’s security. The fact is that the Bush administration’s abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies.

At the Justice Department, for example, political appointees illegally reserved nonpolitical positions for “right-thinking Americans” — their term, not mine — and there’s strong evidence that officials used their positions both to undermine the protection of minority voting rights and to persecute Democratic politicians.

The hiring process at Justice echoed the hiring process during the occupation of Iraq — an occupation whose success was supposedly essential to national security — in which applicants were judged by their politics, their personal loyalty to President Bush and, according to some reports, by their views on Roe v. Wade, rather than by their ability to do the job.

Speaking of Iraq, let’s also not forget that country’s failed reconstruction: the Bush administration handed billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to politically connected companies, companies that then failed to deliver. And why should they have bothered to do their jobs? Any government official who tried to enforce accountability on, say, Halliburton quickly found his or her career derailed.

There’s much, much more. By my count, at least six important government agencies experienced major scandals over the past eight years — in most cases, scandals that were never properly investigated. And then there was the biggest scandal of all: Does anyone seriously doubt that the Bush administration deliberately misled the nation into invading Iraq?

Why, then, shouldn’t we have an official inquiry into abuses during the Bush years?

One answer you hear is that pursuing the truth would be divisive, that it would exacerbate partisanship. But if partisanship is so terrible, shouldn’t there be some penalty for the Bush administration’s politicization of every aspect of government?

Alternatively, we’re told that we don’t have to dwell on past abuses, because we won’t repeat them. But no important figure in the Bush administration, or among that administration’s political allies, has expressed remorse for breaking the law. What makes anyone think that they or their political heirs won’t do it all over again, given the chance?

In fact, we’ve already seen this movie. During the Reagan years, the Iran-contra conspirators violated the Constitution in the name of national security. But the first President Bush pardoned the major malefactors, and when the White House finally changed hands the political and media establishment gave Bill Clinton the same advice it’s giving Mr. Obama: let sleeping scandals lie. Sure enough, the second Bush administration picked up right where the Iran-contra conspirators left off — which isn’t too surprising when you bear in mind that Mr. Bush actually hired some of those conspirators.

Now, it’s true that a serious investigation of Bush-era abuses would make Washington an uncomfortable place, both for those who abused power and those who acted as their enablers or apologists. And these people have a lot of friends. But the price of protecting their comfort would be high: If we whitewash the abuses of the past eight years, we’ll guarantee that they will happen again.

Meanwhile, about Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient.

And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a decision he has the right to make.

did anybody see the dumb speech O made at a wind turbine factory today, where he announced that the factory had hired two new employees this week… at the same time circuit city was telling 30,000 people they were out of work..dumbass!

Geithner might have great credentials but he is either incapable of filling out the tax forms that Americans are required to fill out or he is simply a tax dodger who would enforce the law against tax dodgers.

If Geithner was applying for a job, at the Energy Department for instance, his tax dodging or inability to realize that something was wrong with his taxes for many years might not be an issue. But as the person with the IRS under his jurisdiction the moral authority simply is not there.

Whether Geithner is an Hillary ally or not we would hate to see Hillary tarnished when the excuse is inevitably made by Obama supporters that Geithner is corrupt because he is a Hillary ally and all Hillary allies are corrupt.

Geithner will likely be approved. In a sourpuss way we sort of hope he is approved because it will come back to bite Obama in the butt.

Many Obama supporters want Geithner appointed no matter what because (as in Julius Caesar) they realize that “these growing feathers pluck’d from Caesar’s wing will make him fly an ordinary pitch, Who else would soar above the view of men, and keep us all in servile fearfulness”. In other words many Obama supporters know that Geithner going down will hurt Obama. For the opposite reason many Hillary supporters want Geithner to go down – because that would hurt Obama. But the effects of Geithner’s rejection on Obama is not what should inform us when we decide Geithner’s fate.

Geithner’s experience in tax-dodging or battles with the IRS are not what is needed at the Treasury Department. Americans are cynical enough, with good reason, already .

Whatever Geithner’s merits they are not singular. Geithner should not run the Treasury Department – someone who pays a fair share of lawful taxes with the right experience should run Treasury.

Admin: AMEN! Thank you for expressing your thoughts so clearly and comprehensively. Regardless of Geithner’s alliances, he does not have the moral authority to be head of the Treasury and IRS. Seems rather hypocritical, when he cannot even take care of his own finances. People do make mistakes, but when he was audited the first time, he did not go back and ammend his taxes for the previous two years. Perhaps, if he had done that, his moral authority would not be so lacking.

I hope it hits -38 in DC.
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Wouldn’t that be maavellous!
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It is 45 above in Anchorage this afternoon, finally got to 0 here. But what an improvement over -25. It has been getting warmer here since midnight.

I feel bad for ABM90 and his neighbors at -7 this morning. Sorry buddy…just sleep in your long johns…that’s what we are doing here. It is to be around +30 for a high on Sunday. What weird weather. It fell that much one day in early December and now will rise 55 degrees third week in January. Not complaining…just noting the strangeness of it all. It will be nice to go outside again.

If a citizen withheld payment on taxes the authorities would not be understanding and indeed impose financial penalties on the non-paying citizen. But this is another case where a high government official has decided that a different standard should be applied to the governed as opposed to the governing.

In the future when California demands payment from a late filer or late tax payer the “moral authority” of California to do so will be non-existent. The coercive power will be there, but not the “moral authority”.

They were going on and on at Hillary’s hearing about appearances and here we have a proven tax dodger (he did not even pay it when he first became aware of it) enforcing tax laws for the country. What an irony.

admin, thank you again for your brilliant work. I too would love to meet you or know who you are. I hope you are archiving all this stuff for a book that will make you a millionaire. The fall of Barky is coming

a) brilliant homeless person with a laptop
b) a sophisticated socialite, who like Batman, is constantly “stepping away” to fight for good and justice.
c) a supercomputer able to reference endless amounts of data and databases, but programmed with an algorithm for wit
d) an insider Democratic operative/apparachnik covertly funded by Bill and Hillary
e) a cat

I don’t want to know Admin’s identity or gender because it is too much fun switching the gender ID from “he” to “s/he” to “she” around the first of any given month. A few of us here love driving everyone else crazy with that juvenile trick.

Next best entertainment is watching all the extra 8-14 you-tubes that show up with some of Admin’s video offerings, like the Wonder Women video one article back. It is stuff I would not otherwise get to see, and cheap-but-satisfying entertainment in these cruel, cold and not-much-spare-change days.

Admin: I live in CA, and read that information about the slowdown in tax refunds. Ironically, the CA tax franchise board is ruthless about collecting late payments. They are worse than the IRS, and do not accept partial payments. They lost their “moral authority” a long time ago, as far as I am concerned. Their tactics have always been coercive, but this latest one is unbelievably so. I hope they add interest to the refunds, if they are late in getting out.

I do appreciate Turndown’s advocacy for Senator Clinton and democracy, but some of us will have to agree to disagree on Geithner.

“Caroline Kennedy no longer appears to be the obvious choice to succeed Hillary Clinton as the junior senator from New York. That’s a very good thing, since she lacks the experience needed to join the Senate, especially at a critical time for New York and the nation.

The next senator must be able to play a major role in shaping Congressional efforts to deal with the economic crisis. She or he must have a strong voice on where the federal bailout money is spent; be able to influence the stimulus package; be knowledgeable about the state’s need to shepherd infrastructure spending; and be able to defend the city’s crucial financial industry from those who want to punish it for the transgressions of the past.

Caroline Kennedy has shown that she can handle none of these important tasks. It isn’t just her disappointing efforts to sell herself in the past few weeks; she has no experience on any of these matters.

Politically, Ms. Kennedy remains the path of least resistance for Gov. Paterson. He would make her rabbi, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, happy by picking her, and the Kennedy fundraising machine would help the governor build a campaign war chest for his 2010 campaign. But Mr. Paterson seems concerned about substance. He said yesterday he was interested in a senator with a “body of work’’ in public affairs.”

Emjay:Hi lady not to worry I keep warm and I detest longjohns after spending almost six months in the same itchy smelly issue in europe in the worst weather in their history on the race for Berlin.The clean stuff never caught up to us or went down in the channel.Therefore I am here in my home,stat.set to 69 and an electric blanket at bedtime.Havent been out since Mon. and the down time was great while I drank in every word as Hillary spoke.
I agree that Giethner should not be confirmed.We might be sorry big time if he is revealed as a bosom buddy of Madoff The Skimmer and his peter to paul scheme.Scofflaws make great
bedfellows.

“Newsweek — Obama acolyte and scourge of everything Bush/Cheney — has on the eve of the Democratic restoration miraculously discovered the arguments for warrantless wiretaps, enhanced interrogation and detention without trial.” (see highlighted paragraph)

January 16, 2009
Exit Bush, Shoes Flying
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By Charles Krauthammer

WASHINGTON — Except for Richard Nixon, no president since Harry Truman leaves office more unloved than George W. Bush. Truman’s rehabilitation took decades. Bush’s will come sooner. Indeed, it has already begun. The chief revisionist? Barack Obama.

Vindication is being expressed not in words but in deeds — the tacit endorsement conveyed by the Obama continuity-we-can-believe-in transition. It’s not just the retention of such key figures as Secretary of Defense Bob Gates or Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner, who, as president of the New York Fed, has been instrumental in guiding the Bush financial rescue over the last year. It’s the continuity of policy.

It is the repeated pledge to conduct a withdrawal from Iraq that does not destabilize its new democracy and that, as Vice President-elect Joe Biden said just this week in Baghdad, adheres to the Bush-negotiated status of forces agreement that envisions a U.S. withdrawal over three years, not the 16-month timetable on which Obama campaigned.

It is the great care Obama is taking in not pre-emptively abandoning the anti-terror infrastructure that the Bush administration leaves behind. While still a candidate, Obama voted for the expanded presidential wiretapping (FISA) powers that Bush had fervently pursued. And while Obama opposes waterboarding (already banned, by the way, by Bush’s CIA in 2006), he declined George Stephanopoulos’ invitation (on ABC’s “This Week”) to outlaw all interrogation not permitted by the Army Field Manual. Explained Obama: “Dick Cheney’s advice was good, which is let’s make sure we know everything that’s being done,” i.e., before throwing out methods simply because Obama campaigned against them.

Obama still disagrees with Cheney’s view of the acceptability of some of these techniques. But citing as sage the advice offered by “the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history” (according to Joe Biden) — advice paraphrased by Obama as “we shouldn’t be making judgments on the basis of incomplete information or campaign rhetoric” — is a startlingly early sign of a newly respectful consideration of the Bush-Cheney legacy.

Not from any change of heart. But from simple reality. The beauty of democratic rotations of power is that when the opposition takes office, cheap criticism and calumny will no longer do. The Democrats now own Iraq. They own the war on al-Qaeda. And they own the panoply of anti-terror measures with which the Bush administration kept us safe these last seven years.

#########Which is why Obama is consciously creating a gulf between what he now dismissively calls “campaign rhetoric” and the policy choices he must now make as president. Accordingly, Newsweek — Obama acolyte and scourge of everything Bush/Cheney — has on the eve of the Democratic restoration miraculously discovered the arguments for warrantless wiretaps, enhanced interrogation and detention without trial. Indeed, Newsweek’s neck-snapping cover declares, “Why Obama May Soon Find Virtue in Cheney’s Vision of Power.”
#########

Obama will be loath to throw away the tools that have kept the homeland safe. Just as he will be loath to jeopardize the remarkable turnaround in American fortunes in Iraq.

Obama opposed the war. But the war is all but over. What remains is an Iraq turned from aggressive, hostile power in the heart of the Middle East to an emerging democracy openly allied with the United States. No president would want to be responsible for undoing that success.

In Iraq, Bush rightly took criticism for all that went wrong — the WMD fiasco, Abu Ghraib, the descent into bloody chaos in 2005-06. Then Bush goes to Baghdad to ratify the ultimate post-surge success of that troubled campaign — the signing of a strategic partnership between the U.S. and Iraq — and ends up dodging two size-10 shoes for his pains.

Absorbing that insult was Bush’s final service on Iraq. Whatever venom the war generated is concentrated on Bush himself. By having personalized the responsibility for the awfulness of the war, Bush has done his successor a favor. Obama enters office with a strategic success on his hands — while Bush leaves the scene taking a shoe for his country.

Which is why I suspect Bush showed such equanimity during a private farewell interview at the White House a few weeks ago. He leaves behind the sinews of war, for the creation of which he has been so vilified but which will serve his successor — and his country — well over the coming years. The very continuation by Democrats of Bush’s policies will be grudging, if silent, acknowledgement of how much he got right.

If anyone has a thorough, well-researced, and fair article telling the details and background of Geithner’s tax troubles, I would like to see it.

On a quick look back….

The cite Moon sent and Admin entered as an update on the “Gays, Geithner” article is by Bryon York of National Review. This is a fatcat rightwing publication/author that even trashed Palin. They have motive to keep out any Clintonista and anyone who would otherwise replace Paulson before Paulson can give more of the $700billion to the auto companies. (The new Dem admin is at least claiming they will use much of the money for preventing foreclosures etc; see news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090115/ap_on_go_co/obama_bailout)

Here is a scrap from a WSJ article saying that Geithner (as I would expect) relied on professional accountants: “It’s possible some of Mr. Geithner’s problems stemmed from bad advice. In 2004, an accountant advised Mr. Geithner in writing that he did not owe employment taxes. An accountant who reviewed Mr. Geithner’s 2001 tax return also didn’t inform Mr. Geithner he owed taxes, according to an Obama aide familiar with the situation.”
h…./ no w: online.wsj.com/article/SB123194884833281695.html

All these sources give scraps, fragments of the whole. Till we have something that fits together the fragments and fills in the gaps, we are all just tilting at Rorsarch images.

Geithner should have known. Geithner probably had someone else fill it out for him so he could claim deniability. If dude “gets bad advice”, and accepts it, well…

I’m not dead set against Geithner. He probably is brilliant. But I think the point here is that the folks here want to put the focus on Obama; he claimed he bring transparency, clean up things, yadda yadda. And what we see is the more of the same DC insiders, even if many are Clinton lineage. We just want to point out yet another way in he’s a total hypocrite.

How many days have passed since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat, vowed that he’d never, ever, ever seat anyone touched by the leprous hand of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich?

And how many days since Reid’s ripe second banana, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Big Jim), scoffed that the appointment of Roland Burris was “an act of political defiance that will lead nowhere”?

Actually, it was only 17 days ago Friday, but does it matter anymore, really?

It stopped mattering the moment President-elect Barack Obama privately told Reid—with a metaphorical slap in the mouth the Chicago Way—to stop stalling and seat the guy from Illinois and get his home state’s political corruption out of the news and away from his inauguration festivities.

So on Thursday afternoon in Washington, Roland “Tombstone” Burris raised his right hand and was asked if he would uphold the Constitution. “I do,” Tombstone said.

Tombstone signed his name in the big book of senators, a clerk told him to keep the pen as a trophy and a strange thing happened. The other senators, who until recently shunned and ridiculed him, began to applaud him, enthusiastically.

Burris smiled like a man who knows he has plenty of room to carve another accomplishment on his ridiculous mausoleum. He gazed out onto the faces of his new colleagues rising to their feet, slapping their palms together, making the sound of absolute senatorial sincerity.

What was really going on inside Tombstone’s head? We’ll probably never get the full monty.

I’d like to think that Tombstone saw himself as the heroic Maximus character in “Gladiator,” with all the Romans chanting lustily, “Maximus! Maximus! Maximus!”

Tombstone could have taken the pen and heaved it at Reid and Durbin, making them flinch like frightened rabbits, with Tombstone shouting defiance at the senatorial mob:

Though Illinois has been embarrassed by his ambition, I don’t think we’ll be embarrassed by his service. He’ll be a quiet senator and do what he’s told. He’ll make speeches and cut ribbons.

One thing for certain, he won’t act like a couple of other senators who are beloved by the news media, two senators who made the famous cocktail waitress sandwich years ago.

According to news reports, those two liberal Democratic lions and champions of women’s rights, Sen. Ted Kennedy, the noted midnight swimmer from Massachusetts, and his buddy Christopher Dodd of Connecticut were out one night drinking at La Brasserie, a Capitol Hill restaurant.

Dodd had so much to drink he slumped in a chair. Kennedy decided to liven things up. So he threw a waitress on top of Dodd. Then Kennedy jumped on the astonished woman.

“She was said to have run screaming from the room,” according to a lengthy 1991 profile on Dodd in the Hartford Courant.

Burris may be a hack, but he’ll never make a waitress panini.

If nothing else, he’s been instructive. We’ve witnessed his transformation, from an amiable Democratic Party functionary with that Please-Don’t-Squeeze-The-Charmin mustache to the playing card for certain black politicians using race as a cudgel.

And just weeks after America elected the first African-American president, we learned that the race card, when skillfully flicked across the foreheads of white Senate Democrats, is still the ace in a royal political flush.

No one else would take the job offered by Blagojevich after he was arrested and charged with trying to sell Obama’s old Senate seat to the highest bidder. No one, except for Tombstone.

Such ambition, though terrifying and desperate, is also somewhat endearing. He so wanted to be senator that he kissed Blagojevich’s hand. Now, all Tombstone has to do is call out the stone-carvers.

Perhaps they’ve already been dispatched to inscribe the title ” U.S. Senator” under the list of honors on Tombstone’s tomb.

He might want to add a few more stone benches, so voters can visit and calmly reflect upon the vagaries of American politics. He could also install a snow cone machine for the summer, and peddlers could hawk Rolandian trinkets near his shrine.

How many days until we can get the Burris bobble head and enjoy a snow cone? It doesn’t matter, does it? He’s a senator now.

Program note: Get your DVRs ready: This week I sat down with WTTW-Ch. 11’s John Callaway for his “Friday Night” program scheduled for broadcast at 7:30 p.m. Friday. It was a pleasure to be interviewed by Callaway, a gentleman of the old school who loves politics and my Jimmy DeLeo stories but wasn’t interested in generating shrieking sound bites. And, as it turns out, Callaway gave me a dream time slot because Obama comes on next in a long-lost episode of “Check, Please!,” the restaurant review show.

BEDFORD HEIGHTS, Ohio (CNN) — After two years of traveling around the country and criticizing President Bush, President-elect Barack Obama said Friday that he “always thought [Bush] was a good guy.”

Barack Obama tells CNN’s John King that it was “tough” for him to request the additional bailout funds.

“I mean, I think personally he is a good man who loves his family and loves his country,” Obama said in an exclusive interview with CNN’s John King.

During the election season, Obama frequently campaigned against what he called Bush’s “failed policies” and promised a “clean break” from the past eight years.

Asked if there was anything he wanted to take back, now that he has spent more time with the president, Obama praised Bush’s team for helping with a smooth transition and said part of what America is about is being able to have “disagreements politically and yet treat each other civilly.”

Obama also said he thought Bush made “the best decisions that he could at times under some very difficult circumstances.”

Hillary and Bill have got some power, obviuosly. The more of their old team they have in the administration (in whatever department) the more good they can do for the country and the world.

I want Bill and HILlary to succeed in as many of their projects as possible. Thus I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to any of their old team that can get in.

I do not consider embarrassing Obama as more important than the chance of helping Hillary (and the country and the world). Going after Clintonistas embarrasses H also. And it takes attention away from bots we should be embarrassing — such as Caroline Kennedy. (And probably other bots we haven’t heard much about [Romer?] Melody?] BECAUSE the bots and the media have been focusing our attention on Clintonistas like Summers and Geithner.)

rgb44hrc Says:
January 16th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
rgb: Geithner should have known. Geithner probably had someone else fill it out for him

tdo: Fine so far. That’s exactly what an executive in an important job SHOULD do. Hire a good tax accountant to take care of his personal taxes, so he can keep his mind on his own job.

rgb: so he could claim deniability.

tdo: BZZT! That’s attempted mind-reading. And nobody in a job like Geithner’s is going to deliberately set out to turn in knowingly false paperwork and go to the extent of hiring an accountant just to produce ‘deniability.’ Look at the small tax money he saved — then deduct the cost of the accountant. Also, how many accountants would he have to interview to find one who would go along with a knowing fraud.
(Actually two accountants told him he didn’t owe anything, according to the WSJ cite I posted above.)

rgb: If dude “gets bad advice”, and accepts it, well…

tdo: Now there is a seed of a valid criticism: that he might have chosen wrong accountants. So we might question his judgment in choosing who else to delegate other matters to. (But again this could be seen as carelessness with his own affairs BECAUSE e was focused on his job.) And we’d need to find out who those two different accountants were and why they both made similar calls. We don’t KNOW that they were wrong; we just know that a lot of people are eager to TELL us G was wrong, and he opted to pay to save publicity instead of disputing it. (Remember Paula Jones?)

If everyone wants to dwell on Geithner’s Tax foibles, good luck to ya!.. It’s totally irrelevant in the scheme of things. However, it did give us pause to look deeper.

Here are Geithner’s grooming points and his long held connection to Obama going overlooked (in his resume) that should be a concern for his appointment as Treasury Secretary. I mean if “Change” is the operative word for this new administration…where is it?

To begin with:

Timothy Franz Geithner [pronounced gatnər] (born August 18, 1961) is the 9th president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In that role he also serves as Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Geithner is President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed Henry Paulson as United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Early life and education

Geithner was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Peter F. Geithner, is the director of the Asia program at the Ford Foundation in New York. During the early 1980s, Peter Geithner oversaw the Ford Foundation’s microfinance programs in Indonesia being developed by Ann Dunham-Soetoro, mother of President-elect Barack Obama, and they met in person at least once. Timothy Geithner’s mother, Deborah Moore Geithner, is a pianist and piano teacher in Larchmont, New York where his parents currently reside. Geithner’s maternal grandfather, Charles F. Moore, was an adviser to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and served as a vice president of Ford Motor Company. Geithner spent most of his childhood living outside the United States, including present-day Zimbabwe, India and Thailand, where he completed high school at International School Bangkok. He then attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a B.A. in government and Asian studies in 1983. He earned an M.A. in international economics and East Asian studies from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in 1985. He has studied Chinese and Japanese.

If you notice the glaringly intimate Geithner incestuous connection to the Ford Foundation (remembering Ford’s generosity and support for Hitler and the relationship with Prescott Bush in the 40s) Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham-Soetoro, The IMF and Soros. Then you have fleshed out the Triad of the principals who are the puppet masters to the forthcoming Barack Obama presidency.

Next you have the connection and the flawless transitional flow of power from the old regime of Kissinger to the present and future through Geithner. The non-payment of Tax Revenue is incidental and is nothing more than an unforeseen glitch which has snagged Geithner for a closer look at his resume back a generation. And the coming together of the children of both the Dunham Family and the Geithners as predicators of a continued consolidation of power held and directed by the same hands for the last 100 years to the present..

Early career

After completing his studies, Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, D.C., for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the U.S. Treasury Department in 1988. He went on to serve as an attache at the US Embassy in Tokyo. He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).

He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. Summers was his mentor, but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.
Treasury Secretary designee Geithner meets Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus November 25, 2008

In 2002 he left the Treasury to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a Senior Fellow in the International Economics department.[12] At the International Monetary Fund he was director of the Policy Development and Review Department (2001-2003).[6]

In October 2003, he was named president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[13] His salary in 2007 was $398,200.[14] Once at the New York Fed, he became Vice Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee component. In 2006, he also became a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty.[15]

In March 2008, he arranged the rescue and sale of Bear Stearns and later, in the same year, he is believed to have played a pivotal role in both the decision to bail out AIG as well as the government decision not to save Lehman Brothers from bankruptcy.[17] As a Treasury official, he helped manage multiple international crises of the 1990s[10] in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.

These dates fall within the Clinton Administration: He was deputy assistant secretary for international monetary and financial policy (1995–1996), senior deputy assistant secretary for international affairs (1996-1997), assistant secretary for international affairs (1997–1998).
He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs (1998–2001) under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. Summers was his mentor, but other sources call him a Rubin protégé.

Summers was a Rubin protege so they were all Rubin proteges — the tribe that fixed the economy in the 90s. (Even the bot ‘Romer-sp?’ that Obama hired also follows the Rubin tradition.)

Since Geithner was part of the Clinton Treasury I assume that the Clintons vetted him and he will suport them in future. They may have promotied his appointment now. Without Summers as Treas Sec, HIllary will need a friend as Treas Sec. So imo we should support Geithner as a possible friend to Hillary, until and unless we find evidence of him NOT supporting her.

I know now that Obama is Bush’s choice this time because I just read an article about how the Africans hate to see Bush leave office. How much you want to bet me that Bush has some kind of oil deal in Africa and needed an African to see it thru???
The powers that selected Bush, also selected Obama. It was Hillary’s testicular fortitude that spit in the eye of power and will make sure the middle class will not be desimated over the next 4 to 8 years!! Thankgoodness for Hillary and Bill!
I still can’t stand to watch this inauguration, dammit, because it should be Hillary, is won the damn thing!

Give Obama a chance. I can see that he will do good for our country. He’s already made good choices, like naming Hillary SOS obviously. He’s honest, and will listen to most (not all) of the advice his advisors give him.
I’m gonna support him whole-heartedly unless/until he screws up.

As a Treasury official, he helped manage multiple international crises of the 1990s[10] in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand.

With one salary of $398,000 plus other income (that’s c. 1.5 million over a 4-year period) — he’s going to deliberately and transparently mess around for so little money (less fee of accountants to write it up for deniability)?

cstapp08, You say Obama is honest, where do you get that idea??? He is hooked up with the most dishonest people on the planet, like the Chicago mob, so where is the honest part. Oh, I give he’s the only virgin in the whore house! ROTFLMAO!!

Paterson will choose Hillary’s replacement after the 20th so there is still time to lobby for women: Maloney, Gillibrand, others. But some women are arguing for CK lest Cuomo (a man!) get it. So maybe we could reassure them that Cuomo would be better than CK, if it comes down to those two. (Imo Paterson will not choose CK.)

The focus of the Geithner appointment should be on the Ford, Soros, IMF connection not the Clintons. During the Clinton Administration, 10 yrs ago Geithner’s role was minor. He was just a maid in waiting for his role as the next generation of thieves raiding the Treasury (and most likely Social Security) until finally breaking the backs of the Middle Class.

This article is from Raw Story: (note the Ford Motor Co’s ease of operation. No competition, no union employees to deal with, cheap labor)

Ford starts making Fiesta in China

Published: Thursday January 15, 2009

Ford Motor Company started producing its fuel-efficient low-cost Fiesta car at a plant in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Thursday, the company said.

The Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Company will produce the Fiesta for the Chinese market, with the first vehicles expected to go on sale later in the first quarter, the company said in a statement.

The latest version of the Fiesta debuted last year in Europe, with 61,000 cars sold so far, Ford said.

Ford is one of the US auto giants striving to accommodate car buyers who are abandoning gasoline-guzzling sport-utility vehicles in favour of more fuel-efficient sedans after oil prices hit record highs last year.

The auto maker has been touting Fiesta, its second-best selling vehicle behind the Ford Focus, as the first in “a series of global cars.”

“We are leveraging our global assets and expertise to design and build vehicles that meet the demands and expectations of customers around the world,” Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s group vice president for global manufacturing and labour affairs, said in the statement.

The Nanjing plant will be the first facility to build the four-door sedan version of the Fiesta and is the second assembly facility in the world to build the car, the company said.

Production began at Ford’s Cologne, Germany, assembly plant last year and will begin later this month at Ford’s plant in Valencia, Spain.

The Fiesta will go on sale in North America in early 2010 and will be produced at Ford’s Cuautitlan Assembly Plant in Mexico.

In 2010, Ford and Mazda’s joint-venture facility, Auto Alliance Thailand, in Rayong will begin producing the new Fiesta for other major Asian markets.

All the major Banks will eventually be 100% nationalized and consolidated within the New World Order. As it is, with ever growing job loss, your success as a job applicant not only rests on your resume but on your credit score and financial liabilities of less than $30,000 of credit card debt.

“In the US, similar government measures are being discussed, with officials looking at either the prospect of a “bad bank” scenario, or extending individual guarantees to banks that need them.”

The situation has been being assessed by members of outgoing President George W. Bush’s administration in recent weeks, in close contact with members of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, who will take over the US Treasury and other key departments after his inauguration on Tuesday.
As he finalises the details of the rescue plan with the Treasury, Gordon Brown will this weekend attack the “irresponsible” lending of British banks to foreign nationals and overseas companies.”

Please do not feed the Obot, ignore it and it will go away. There is notthing you can say or do to change its mind. It will be Obama himself that will change its mind, when it realizes he has lied to it and lead it astray. In the next year or two I’m not sure we will be able to produce enough prozac for all of them.

Paula!! i was there too… what did u think of Patterson’s line, where he said that one day we will have a woman for president and that hillary would be there to congratulate her!!! i could barely contain myself.

Tues Jan 20 2009: The greatest most costly coronation know n to man world wide.Greatest most repulsive ego trip ever concocted and imposed on a nation gone broke and hoodwinked.The questio now is “FOR WHAT” and for “HOW LONG OH LORD”?

Excuse me President-Elect Barack Obama; back in the days when you were courting votes, you insisted that your words were issues … issues that all of ‘we the people’ were clamoring for you to explain to us. You became visibly agitated when ‘some of we the people’ wanted to know more about your past, your character, your accomplishments. Your standard reply was that digressing to those points was divisive and distracting. And the gullible, in great numbers, voted for you.

Now you refer to those words, not as issues, not as the core of your presidency, but as campaign rhetoric. CAMPAIGN RHETORIC. And that would be something you do not hold yourself accountable for. Even as Charles Krauthammer praises your great wisdom, now that you have quote greater knowledge unquote, growing numbers of ‘we the people’ also have greater knowledge. We know, without a doubt that you say what you need to say to get to your next plateau. You cannot be trusted. You are a liar.

This is a realistic piece about the forthcoming apotheosis of Beloved Leader. About time somebody took a more pragmatic look at what we are getting instead of all the idiotic fluff about puppies, etc.

TRIBUNE VOICES
Even Barack Obama will be judged by what he does as president
By Patrick T. Reardon
January 17, 2009

This is not another installment in the media’s—and the nation’s—fascination with President-elect Barack Obama. And the school his girls attend. And the dress Michelle will wear for the inauguration. And who will pray what prayer at the ceremony. And who will be the White House chef.

This is a reality check. No, even better, think of it as a reality reminder.

This guy is going to be inaugurated, and then he’s going to become—drumroll, please!—routine. And not just routine.

People—basically all of us at some point—aren’t going to like him. Remember, nearly half the country voted for the other guy. You, even if you’ve been a dyed-in-the-wool Obama-ite from the word “go,” are almost certain to be upset by or turned off by something he’ll do over the next four years.

Sure, he’s the first African-American president, and there will always be something special about that. But he’s just a guy, and this is a job that involves dozens, if not hundreds, of decisions every day. Every decision involves winners and losers, and the losers don’t like not winning.

I’m not saying Obama will be a bad president. He could be good, even great. But greatness is not protection against criticism.

Lyndon Johnson did more for the civil rights movement than any other president in history. Yet he was reviled for policies that got us deeper and deeper into the Vietnam War.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the nation through the Great Depression and World War II. Yet, for a certain segment of the nation’s population, he was always “that man in the White House,” a traitor to his class, a socialist, an upsetter of apple carts, a warmonger. Even those who loved him for his jauntiness in the face of crisis could find fault with his attempt to pack the Supreme Court.

Obama, a transplanted son of Illinois, has done much as a candidate and president-elect to draw parallels with that other Illinois transplant, Abraham Lincoln.

Widely considered the greatest president, Lincoln led the nation through its darkest danger and direst tragedy, the Civil War. Through his eloquence, clear-headedness, intellectual and moral strength, political savvy and, let’s face it, luck, he kept the North united and found the means to bring the South, against its wishes, back into the fold.

Then, at the height of his success, an assassin’s bullet took his life, and he became a national martyr.

Yet, had Lincoln lived, almost certainly his legacy would have been a lot more mixed.

Most of us don’t realize that Lincoln was a controversial president, criticized for acting unilaterally to limit civil liberties, suspend the writ of habeas corpus and imprison without trial thousands of border-state residents suspected of sympathizing with the rebels.

He was blamed by many in the North for the long, bloody conflict, and, a few months before the 1864 election, he wrote that it seemed “exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected.” A month later, though, Gen. William Sherman captured Atlanta, giving Lincoln the boost he needed to win a second term.

His running mate was Andrew Johnson, who became president at Lincoln’s death and ran afoul of Congress by urging a gentler Reconstruction than Northern firebrands wanted. He was impeached and came within a vote of being removed from office.

Lincoln’s attitude toward the reincorporation of the South into the Union was very similar to Johnson’s. Had he survived, would he have faced impeachment as Johnson did?

There’s no way to know, of course, but the reality is that, with the war finished, it would have been politics as usual. Lincoln would have been just another president trying to work with the Congress. He certainly wouldn’t have been the secular saint that he became.

Like Lincoln, come Tuesday, Obama will be just another president trying to work with Congress. Our focus won’t be on what sort of dog he’ll get for his daughters, but on the sort of health-care program he’ll try to implement. And on his plans for Iran. And the Gaza Strip. And the Iraq War. And the nation’s economy. And on and on.

The novelty of this guy with the interesting life story will wear off. He’ll be just another president—like the 43 who preceded him.

turndown says…” So imo we should support Geithner as a possible friend to Hillary, until and unless we find evidence of him NOT supporting her.”
**************************
by then it could be too late!

I admire ‘turndowns’ tenacity and lobbying efforts for his
candidates…and if I was running for office or a position, I would want him at my back…but maybe, just maybe…Bo surrounding himself with all
these Clinton people is just distraction and cover for
the ‘real agenda!’

“Fantasy Island”, great theme framing current events, Admin. Watching the reruns in Mexico last year, when Tattoo called out to Ricardo, “It’s de plane. It’s de plane!”… The plane landed safely intact and passengers debarked onto Fantasy Island for an hour of mystery and entertainment.

US Air Flight #1549 landed safely due to World Class aviator hero pilot, Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, in the frigid waters of the Hudson River. BRAVO, Sully, Bravo!

Passengers were treated to another chance at “Life”- I wonder if the 20-25 Bank of America executives and the smattering of Wachovia execs on board that flight will use the gift they’ve been given, having cheated death, to actually help struggling homeowners keep their homes?

Soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s expected approval by the Senate Tuesday has just hit a small speed bump that could delay her appointment for a day.

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, the incoming head of the GOP’s senate campaign committee, has penned a letter to the incoming SoS saying he’s “deeply troubled that America’s foreign policy and your diplomatic mission will be encumbered by the sweeping global activities of the Clinton Foundation.”

Like Dick Lugar, John Kerry and David Vitter, Cornyn wants increased transparency.

Cornyn can’t permanently block Clinton’s appointment but he could object to a unanimous consent motion allowing Clinton to be approved by a voice vote, the DN’s Michael McAuliff reports.

And that would force Majority Leader Harry Reid to call a quorum and set up an actual, tallied vote, which would mightily interfere with Senators inaugural party plans. One solution: push the vote back to Wednesday, when the upper chamber reconvenes for regular business.

• birdgal Says:
January 17th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Anyone else think, 150 million dollars is a lavish amount to spend on the inauguration, even figuring in costs for security?
==========================
I think a great leader would say “I’m not here to be praised and pampered. I’m here to work. Let’s show the people we are not the greedy, insensitive, bastards they perceive us to be. Let’s keep this thing as simple and cheap as possible and let the taxpayers, the out of work, the homeless and the hungry know we really care.” What a great and memorable gesture that would be.

jeleanoro Says:
January 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am
turndown says…” So imo we should support Geithner as a possible friend to Hillary, until and unless we find evidence of him NOT supporting her.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s incredulous to me that Geithner can be thought of as anything other than a pawn, like Obama, on the Grand IMF Chessboard.

The connections made in the wiki post upthread at 12:22am which as a source, is correct and accurate. I’ve read of the Geithner/Obama family connections elsewhere and was pleasantly surprised to find the compilation laid out in such fine form at such an accessible venue.

Theres nothing illegal about it… for now, the convergence of timing is absolutely fascinating.

all I wanna know is how much into his term will he before all of this comes out and before America gets slapped up side of the head with the knowledge of what they’ve done. Reckon how many suicides we’ll see?

Hillary’s appointment to the SOS Senate confirmation is going to be held up…another Republican from Texas is spouting his tongue. The country is going to hell in a hand basket and they want to get petty … see why they lost this election?

jtjames, where’s the link that Patterson said” Hillary will be there to congradulate her”??? OMG, I knew this is all a set up with Caroline Kennedy. I will definitely change my affiliation to repuklican now, but really, is there any difference between the two parties, both are corrupt!

jeleanoro Says:
January 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am
turndown says…” So imo we should support Geithner as a possible friend to Hillary, until and unless we find evidence of him NOT supporting her.”
**************************
by then it could be too late! [….]
maybe, just maybe…Bo surrounding himself with all these Clinton people is just distraction and cover for the ‘real agenda!’

================

Too late for what? Even if appointing the Clinton people might be intended as cover — why reject these possible allies and get certain (inexperienced) bots instead?

January 17th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Give Obama a chance. I can see that he will do good for our country. He’s already made good choices, like naming Hillary SOS obviously. He’s honest, and will listen to most (not all) of the advice his advisors give him.
I’m gonna support him whole-heartedly unless/until he screws up.
&&&&&&&&&&

lisaque Says:

January 17th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Please do not feed the Obot, ignore it and it will go away. There is notthing you can say or do to change its mind. It will be Obama himself that will change its mind, when it realizes he has lied to it and lead it astray. In the next year or two I’m not sure we will be able to produce enough prozac for all of them.
&&&&&&&&&&

Good advice.

I believe some Obama supporters will become disenchanted/angered, but I am fairly sure that many of them will “see what they want to see”, rationalizing his changing stances and complete about-faces. They’ll say, “Things are different now that he’s actually on the job, and not campaigning”, or, “The situation is different now than even just this past October”, yadda yadda.

But I love it when people try to convince the extremely well-informed folks here about Obama’s positives. Good luck trying to peddle THAT stuff HERE.

The Republicans, just like Hillary in the primaries, had no possibility of ‘winning’ this election on hindsight. It was fixed from the start – there was no election to win, just to be taken. It was not an election won, but stolen through corruption, fraud, and the Chicago corruption combine. I wonder if Oprah will ever wake up to just WHAT she did to the American people as I am sure she knew of of the Chicago combine of corruption. I will forgive her right after I forgive Donna Brazile.

One possibility is that she was innocently drawn into Obama’s schemes.

Another is that she was fully aware and was part of the great crime. As a super wealthy and super-connected celebrity, I’m leaning toward the second.

But like most Bots, she will rationalize that this was good for the country, great for “history”, and won’t hold him accountable for anything, even if they have pictures of him burying bodies in the ground.

just read that Hillary inauguaral gown is being done by Oscar de Le Renta and that it is PINK with embroidery….

I understand on Tuesday that Big Pink as we call is will undergo a change in design. I will miss our Big Pink masthead and colors and I’d like to thank the Admin here for giving us a place to hang out, cry, shout, plead and just vent.

What a year .. I’m still thinking back to this time last year and meaning to go back in archives and read some of the old threads..we were all looking toward Super Tuesday, getting the garlic, stakes for the heart, talking about 666, antichrist, and so many more things.

I remember some of the old timers..OkieAtty, Idunn (who is still here)

What a great crew. We are in it for the right reasons and while I’m still in denial bout Hillary (I hope she’ll someday be our President) I just can’t look forward to the next 4 years

Dont pin your hopes on a religious conversion by bots. They are like the hard core bush supporters. Impervious to evidence, anathema to truth and just plain dumber than owl shit. They are damned near as bad as Newsweek. I live for the day they go out of business. They make Larry Flynt look respectable.

I was taking a walk back in time and remembered one of my favorite things about Hillary.

I remembered her humor.

It’s not something mentioned frequently about her but I really enjoy thinking about those little things she said and did that made us all laugh.

Like her skit with Bill in the restaurant, and the airline stewardess. And her sarcasm won’t be forgotten either. My favorite is when she talked about the clouds opening up and the celestial choir singing. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1ckrEeHDRY)
I’m sure everyone has a favorite.

Anyway, I’ve decided that I’l bring those times to mind with each and every pathetic bit of a$$ kissing BM news of BHO

I read where Hillary’s expansion of SOS Powers will imbue her with a firm handle on her office. If that is the case, she is still of a mind to be thinking and helping us get through this most perilous time.